Gabber Eleganza - Never Sleep #1in collaboration with Presto!?

RELEASE DATE: 22/3/2018

Three clean-cut anthems for the studio debut of Gabber Eleganza, an anticipated new form for the archival and performative project created by Alberto Guerrini in 2011. Now updating the contemporary folklore with his analog grit. Try not to get your attention diverted once again. And keep calm under pressure. First volume of the Never Sleep series. Limited edition vinyl. Includes DL card. A limited run of 50 copies will be decorated by a fantascope print on the b-side.

1. Junonica

2. Never Sleep

3. Total Football

Gabber Eleganza was born as a curated blog archive in 2011, an open research about rave subcultures mainly focused on the gabber and post-rave aestethic. The central ambition of the web archive was to become a source of research material on different topics: contemporary folklore, suburban euphoria and post-rave phenomena, reassessing a denigrated subculture through a new cultural lens.

Over the years, the magnitude of the project has reached individuals far beyond the hardcore scene. Alberto Guerrini, the Italy and Berlin based founder, has since taken his project offline by producing zines, radio podcasts and garments. He currently tours as a DJ act or with a live performance dubbed The Hakke Show – an old-skool rave/hardcore set involving gabber dancers performing onstage their fast, air-cutting moves, channeling their energy with fierce intensity.

In the past year Guerrini has brought the Hakke show to festivals: Club to Club (Turin), Resonate (Belgrade), performed as a DJ alongside Lorenzo Senni (Warp Records) and toured cities including Oval Space in London, Niebo in Warsaw, Janus/Berghain in Berlin, Ex Dogana in Rome, Empty Gallery in Hong Kong, etc. Guerrini has hosted radio shows on three London stations: RinseFM, NTS and Radar Radio.

“Alberto Guerrini has been documenting gabber and rave aesthetics on his Gabber Eleganza blog since 2011, and in 2016 he finally took the project “offline.” Throughout the year, Guerrini has been DJing at clubs, art galleries and raves all over Europe, and as far as Hong Kong, bringing The Hakke Show — an old-school hardcore DJ set with gabber dancers — to festivals like Club To Club in Turin and Resonate in Belgrade. Few brought hardcore to as many people outside of the scene. And this is a crucial point: thanks to devotees like Guerrini, Casual Gabberz and WIXAPOL S.A., a dialogue has opened up between hardcore and contemporary dance music communities. It’s helped hardcore transcend some of its negative stigmas, producing a wave of reevaluation and critique about hardcore from outside the scene.”